Bloodstained Arrogance

Sasuke's hoarse roar still echoed across the bridge, filled with unwillingness and resolve.

But to Zabuza's Water Clone, it was nothing more than the final ridiculous shriek of an ant before being crushed.

It could not even be bothered to adjust its stance. It simply used the broad blade like a door panel and swept it sideways!

Yet the anticipated sight of flesh and bone being torn apart never came.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

In the midst of his desperate charge, Sasuke suddenly lowered his body and narrowly slid beneath the blade sweeping toward his waist!

At the same time, his abdomen swelled sharply. His hands flashed through seals, and a blazing massive fireball surged from his mouth, blasting straight at the Water Clone!

The thick mist was instantly vaporized, and the searing shockwave warped the air.

Faced with the Uchiha clan's proud ninjutsu, surprise flickered in the Water Clone's eyes—but there was far more disdain.

It did not even dodge. It merely raised the Kubikiribōchō in front of itself!

"Boom—!"

The fireball struck the broad blade and burst into a shower of sparks, but failed to harm it in the slightest.

"Not a bad struggle."

The Water Clone's voice came from behind the flames, still icy cold. "But this is as far as you go."

Before the words had faded, it violently shook the blade, scattering the remaining flames. Then it lunged forward in a single stride, several times faster than before!

Sasuke's pupils contracted. He had just used a powerful technique, and this was precisely the moment when his old strength had faded and new strength had yet to rise.

He could only watch helplessly as that massive weapon, wrapped in the shadow of death, rapidly filled his vision!

"Pfft—!"

This time, the Water Clone did not strike him with the flat of the blade. It smashed the broad spine of the sword solidly into Sasuke's chest!

Sasuke felt an irresistible, terrifying force slam into him, as though he had been struck head-on by a battering ram!

The agony of his breastbone shattering instantly spread throughout his body.

He was hurled high into the air, tracing a miserable arc. Blood sprayed from his mouth in a fan, staining the gray-white mist with a bleak, brilliant red.

"Bang!"

He crashed heavily onto the cold bridge deck, his consciousness rapidly beginning to blur.

He... had done his best.

In that desperate situation, he had not collapsed like he had when facing that killing intent before. He had used his strongest ninjutsu and fought back.

But the gap... was still too great...

Too weak... really... too weak...

"Not bad courage. Much better than when you could only tremble. As a reward, I'll let you die without pain."

Carrying the Kubikiribōchō over its shoulder, the Water Clone walked step by step toward the fallen Sasuke. It looked down at him from above, with no pity in its eyes—only the indifference of a farce coming to an end.

It slowly raised the massive blade in its hand and aimed it at Sasuke's waist and abdomen.

The shadow of death had never been clearer.

Sasuke closed his eyes in despair.

Yet just as the Kubikiribōchō, gleaming with a chilling light, was about to fall—

"Move."

A warm, powerful hand suddenly pressed against his shoulder and pushed him back.

The voice was not loud, but it carried unquestionable authority.

Sasuke struggled to open his eyes and saw only a familiar, arrogant blond head blocking the way before him.

It was Naruto.

He had stepped past him, facing that towering monster like a god of death and the massive blade that could split mountains and shatter stone, all with that thin frame of his.

That back was so steady it made one's heart tremble!

"Naruto! Run!"

Inside the Water Prison Technique, Kakashi's eyes nearly split with rage. "Have you lost your mind?! This isn't an enemy you can handle! That's an order! Run!"

Hearing Kakashi's nearly heart-rending roar, Naruto could not even be bothered to turn around.

He merely rolled his neck lightly, producing a series of cracking sounds. An expression of extreme disdain curled across his lips.

"Run?"

He let out a short laugh, as if he had heard the funniest joke of the century.

"A mere water-playing clone thinks it can make me run?"

!!!

The moment those words fell, the entire scene went silent!

Sakura, sprawled on the ground, forgot to cry. Sasuke, lying there, forgot his pain. Even Zabuza's true body, maintaining the Water Prison Technique, froze for an instant.

Zabuza's Water Clone stiffened. In its cold eyes, fury born of utter humiliation instantly ignited!

"You arrogant little brat!!"

It bellowed, completely enraged. "Since you're so eager to die, I'll grant your wish first! Turn into a pile of flesh!!"

"Whoosh—!!!"

Amid its roar, the Kubikiribōchō carried terrifying wind pressure that tore through the air. Like a small mountain, it hacked down at Naruto's head with overwhelming force!

Yet faced with that earth-shattering strike, Naruto neither dodged nor formed hand seals.

He merely raised his head sharply, and two frightening cold gleams shot from his azure eyes!

At that moment, the blood within his body seemed to transform from a trickling stream into a roaring, surging river!

Perfect Uzumaki Sage Body... Complete Form, unleashed!

Boom!!!

A vast force of blood and vitality, visible to the naked eye and as overwhelming as a tsunami, erupted from within his body!

His originally well-proportioned frame changed as every inch of muscle fiber instantly swelled and knotted!

Like a god of war stepping out of ancient Greek myth!

Then, beneath the ghost-stricken gazes of everyone present, Naruto directly extended his right hand. His five fingers spread open as he faced the deathly gleaming edge of the Kubikiribōchō barehanded!

He was going to... catch the Kubikiribōchō with his bare hand?!

He was insane!

This guy had completely lost his mind!!!

"Clang—!!!!!"

The next second, an ear-splitting metallic crash that shook the heavens exploded!

Time itself seemed to have had its pause button pressed.

Zabuza, Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura... everyone's expression froze in that instant into a horrifying portrait that read: Who am I? Where am I? What did I just see?

They saw—

Naruto Uzumaki standing firmly where he was, using one hand—just one hand—to casually grip the blade of the Kubikiribōchō!

That terrifying weapon, capable of splitting monuments and shattering stone, was now held in his palm as if welded in place. It could not advance even a fraction further!

But he had not emerged completely unscathed.

The sharp blade had ultimately cut through his skin, which was as tough as steel.

A thread of blood seeped from the gap where the blade met his palm, drop by drop, falling onto the cold bridge deck and blooming into tiny crimson flowers.

He was bleeding.

Yet that sight of blood did not lessen the shock he brought. Instead, it added an indescribable savage, vivid beauty to his violent strength!

He was not a god. He could bleed.

But he could make divine weapons and peerless blades wail within his bleeding palm!

"Tch."

Naruto lowered his gaze to the wound in his palm, then looked up at the bandaged face before him, written all over with disbelief. The cruel smile on his lips deepened.

"A warm-up finally managed to make me bleed a little."

The instant he finished speaking, the five fingers gripping the blade suddenly tightened!

"Creak... creak... crack—!!!!"

A teeth-grating sound of twisting metal rang out!

Under the Water Clone's horrified gaze, the Kubikiribōchō—the famed Hidden Mist ninja blade known as the "unbreakable blade"—was actually... crushed apart by Naruto's bare hand!

A broken fragment of the blade fell to the ground with a clatter.

"Then..."

Naruto slowly released his hand and let the damaged weapon drop. He raised his still-bleeding right hand, licked the blood from his palm, and looked on with azure eyes filled with the arrogance and contempt of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

"The warm-up... is over."